FAQ

PreviewQt is developed as open-source, meaning its source code is freely available to everyone and can be obtained by everyone for free. It is licensed under the GPL v2 or later, meaning that anybody can use and modify PreviewQt, as long as this license is kept (more info on the GPL v2 here). I decided to publish PreviewQt as free open-source software as I have been the happy user of numerous open-source projects myself, and this is a way I can give something back to the community.

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You can find out what version you are running by executing previewqt --version on the command line, or by checking the About window in PreviewQt (shortcut: Ctrl + I).

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An overview of the configuration used for your build of PreviewQt can be obtained either by running previewqt --show-info from the command line or by clicking on the logo in the About window (shortcut: Ctrl + I).

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I always appreciate suggestions for new features. I can't give any promises that any particular feature will make it into PreviewQt (or maybe not until a later version), but I will consider and respond to any and all ideas. Some idea might be more appropriate for PhotoQt.

A tip for increasing the chances that your feature request will actually be worked on: Be polite and respectful. It is sad that this has to be said, but being pushy or rude will move your feature request(s) down the list of priorities.

Note: Although donations are appreciated, it is not possible to pay to get features into PreviewQt!

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I try to do my best to get back to you as soon as I can. However, there are two possible reasons for why I might not have replied to your email yet:

1. I'm developing PreviewQt in my free time for fun. But sometimes life gets busy and I have to temporarily put my work on PreviewQt on hold. But I promise that I will get to your email as soon as I can.

2. If your email is nothing but a list of requests or demands, without any greeting or anything, then I will likely ignore your email altogether. Unfortunately this happens fairly frequently. Please be polite and kind in your emails.

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Depending on your system you might have different options available. There is an installer for Windows available, and there exist packages for various Linux distributions. You can always compile the latest version from source (instructions here). The latest development snapshot is available on GitLab.

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Although Windows 7 is not officially supported by PreviewQt (or by Qt6 for that matter), you might have success running the latest version of PreviewQt using the VxKex Windows 7 API Extensions. For questions and support of VxKex please refer to its git repository.

Please note that Windows 7 has reached its end of life in early 2020 and does not receive any more security updates. It is highly recommended to upgrade to a newer operating system.

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If you are using KDE's Dolphin file manager, then you're in luck: All you need to do is create a global shortcut for your window manager for the command previewqt --load-selected-file. Triggering your selected shortcut when a file is selected in Dolphin will open it directly in PreviewQt.

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PreviewQt uses a variety of image libraries to render and show all kinds of images. The exact selection of supported image formats depends on which library has been enabled when your build of PreviewQt was done, and also on the versions of said libraries themselves. If you are missing some image formats in your build check that your running the latest version of PreviewQt and inform the maintainer who compiled your build of PreviewQt. If you built it yourself, make sure that all desired image libraries are enabled and found when running cmake.

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If you want to use PreviewQt under Windows Remote Desktop you might not be able to see any window once PreviewQt is launched. This is due to OpenGL not being available by default over Remote Desktop.

Depending on your system and preference, there are a few different ways to enable OpenGL over Remote Desktop:

• Using the registry editor OpenGL can be set to be available over Remote Desktop: https://knowledge.civilgeo.com/enabling-gpu-rendering-for-microsoft-remote-desktop/
• If you use an NVIDIA GPU, you might have some luck with an utility they provide to enable OpenGL over Remote Desktop: https://www.khronos.org/news/permalink/nvidia-provides-opengl-accelerated-remote-desktop-for-geforce-5e88fc2035e342.98417181
• Use an alternative way to use your desktop remotely (e.g., VNC).

Note: The above solutions are based on feedback received online and have not been tested by PreviewQt.

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PreviewQt uses ImageMagick in order to render a large range of image formats. ImageMagick, in turn, relies on GhostScript to render EPS/AI files. Thus, in order to enable support for them, GhostScript needs to be installed on your computer. You can download the official installer from the GhostScript website right here. Make sure to restart your computer after installing GhostScript, otherwise it might not get picked up by your system.

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